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Lighting a background
- Thread starter stringy
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Garry Edwards
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Any of the above will do.
Special background reflectors (45 degree) are ideal because they take up far less space than anything else and also need much less studio width, because softboxes etc need a wider studio to be out of shot.
A normal reflector can be used as long as the light distribution is even, usually it isn't.
The same goes for barn doors - useful for stopping light from making its way back to the subject, but they don't do anything that a black flag can't do better.
The name of the game is to get the background illumination as even as possible, so whatever tool you use, place it at a height that doesn't require the flash head to be tilted and cross light the background.
Special background reflectors (45 degree) are ideal because they take up far less space than anything else and also need much less studio width, because softboxes etc need a wider studio to be out of shot.
A normal reflector can be used as long as the light distribution is even, usually it isn't.
The same goes for barn doors - useful for stopping light from making its way back to the subject, but they don't do anything that a black flag can't do better.
The name of the game is to get the background illumination as even as possible, so whatever tool you use, place it at a height that doesn't require the flash head to be tilted and cross light the background.
Garry Edwards
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- Garry Edwards
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Sometimes you do need to tilt the heads up or down, what I'm really saying is that it's best not to, or to keep tilting to a minimum by having stands that allow the flash heads to be used square on.
You need to tilt them sideways a bit to get the light to cross over, that is the one on the right lights the left side of the background and the one one the left lights the right side. Eactly how you do this, and how much, will depend on what you're using to light the background
I'm assuming here that you're lighting from right and left, not from top and bottom - same principle though if you are.
None of this is really critical. What you're trying to do here is to get good, even illumination so that you don't need any pp work to get the background white and you don't need to use unnecessary power on the background, which will cause the problem that we see all the time, with the edges of the subject degraded by an excess of reflected light. Just get it as even as you can, don't worry about my counsel of perfection
You need to tilt them sideways a bit to get the light to cross over, that is the one on the right lights the left side of the background and the one one the left lights the right side. Eactly how you do this, and how much, will depend on what you're using to light the background
I'm assuming here that you're lighting from right and left, not from top and bottom - same principle though if you are.
None of this is really critical. What you're trying to do here is to get good, even illumination so that you don't need any pp work to get the background white and you don't need to use unnecessary power on the background, which will cause the problem that we see all the time, with the edges of the subject degraded by an excess of reflected light. Just get it as even as you can, don't worry about my counsel of perfection
E
englandshottest2
Guest
for me i'd use barndoors on both, helps stop the spilling onto the subject's edges.
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- James Betts
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Ive used softboxes, barndoors and umbrellas to light backgrounds.
Softboxes were the best overall, for both tight crops e.g. head & shoulders and the best for full length shots.
Barndoors were good for tight crops but were a pain with the full length shots.
Umbrellas were awful.. The spill is just far too great, half of it would be wasted with the size of the background we had to use..
Regards, James
Softboxes were the best overall, for both tight crops e.g. head & shoulders and the best for full length shots.
Barndoors were good for tight crops but were a pain with the full length shots.
Umbrellas were awful.. The spill is just far too great, half of it would be wasted with the size of the background we had to use..
Regards, James